County Clerks, State Board of Elections reviewing claim 17 counties have bloated rolls

Of Illinois’ 102 counties there are 17 with bloated voter rolls according to the Public Interest Legal Foundation.

PILF Legal Counsel Joseph Vanderhulst says aside from bloated rolls being bad election management, it’s also illegal. Bloated rolls also opens up the possibility of illegitimate votes and a system that gets bogged down.

“It’s a problem because it creates a fertile ground for voter fraud and then secondly in what a lot of people don’t realize is it clogs up the process.”

Of the 17 Illinois Counties PILF found to have bloated voter rolls, Pulaski County tops the list with 190 percent with Franklin County at 176 percent. Franklin County Clerk Greg Woolard says he received the letter and is scratching his head.

“We just don’t know where this inaccurate number is coming from. I think there’s 14 out of 17 counties that are in the same boat that I’m that have no clue where they got the number at and we’re just trying to figure this out.”

Woolard says he had the Franklin County State’s Attorney respond to PILF and also contacted the State Board of Elections.

The State Board of Elections says they are also puzzled but are still reviewing the issue and working to contact PILF for clarification on how they came up with their numbers.

PILF’s Vanderhulst says counties must clean up their rolls. If not, there could be some action taken, starting with a letter sent by PILF.

“There’s a waiting period of 90 days for them to try to correct and then if they don’t or don’t respond and can’t come up with some kind of plan ultimately a lawsuit can be brought and there could be a court order instructing them to do A, B or C to correct it.”

The Clerk from Washington County, which tied for third on PILF’s list for having 140 percent voters than are eligible confirms receiving the letter. Clerk Nancy Heseman says her office is in the process of reviewing how best to respond to the PILF letter. Heseman also says Washington County is constantly purging their voter rolls and are also in the process of switching vendors who handle their election technology.